Telephone answering service with integrated voice and textual message storage

ABSTRACT

A telephone answering system for providing textual messages and voice messages generated by telephone answering of telephones of persons having telephone calls answered by the system. A system memory stores textural and voice messages. A voice message recording system controls recording of voice messages of answered telephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answering system. A textual message recording system controls recording of textual messages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made to persons having their telephones answered by the telephone answering system. A programmed computer program implements the voice message recording system and the textual message recording system by execution of a program. The computer decodes a telephone number of each telephone call answered by the telephone answering system, determines a program service option to be performed in answering each telephone call based upon the decoded telephone number, causes the voice message recording system to record a voice message in the system memory if the service option is specified to be answering telephone calls by the voice message recording system, initiates ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer the telephone call and causes the textual message recording system to record textual messages in the system memory if the service option is specified to use an operator to record textual messages. The recording systems function to permit selective playback of individual recorded messages by the placing of a telephone call to the answering system.

MICROFICHE APPENDIX

A microfich Appendix (consisting of four microfiche and a total of 296frames) containing a source code listing of a computer programcontrolling the host system AT compatible computer of FIG. 3 isattached. The Appendix contains subject matter which is copyrighted. Alimited license is granted to anyone requiring a copy of the programdisclosed therein for purposes of understanding or analyzing the presentinvention, but no license is granted to make a copy for any otherpurpose including the loading of a processing device with code in anyformoor language. The program is in polyForth ISD-4 programming languagedeveloped by Forth Inc. of Manhattan Beach, Calif.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to telephone answering systems. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to telephone answeringsystems for use by telephone answering services and private telephoneswitching systems.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art system marketed by the assignee of thepresent invention. The prior art system 10 incorporates a telephoneanswering system (TAS) with textual storage 12 which was marketed by theassignee of the present invention under the trademark®. The system 12was modified to include an add on voice mail system 14 which wasconnected by means of a telephone switch 16. Operator stations 18 foruse by the system 12 were connected to the telephone switch 16 insteadof directly to the system 12 as in commercial applications of EVE®. Thesystem 12 functioned as the host controller of the system 10. Asubscriber of a telephone answering service using the prior art system10 wishing to obtain voice mail service telephoned the answering serviceto have the subscriber's account programmed to provide either textualmessage answering service requiring the intervention of a live operatorlocated at an operator station 18 to record a textual message or a voicemail message to be recorded by the voice mail system 14. The memoriesfor the systems 12 and 14 were separate. A telephone caller to thesubscriber was connected to the system 12 through the telephone switch16. The system 12 decoded the number that was called to identify theparticular subscriber of the system whose account is being serviced. Thesubscriber's programmed service option determined if the telephone callwas to be handled through operator intervention by one of the operatorstations 18 to record a textual message or alternatively if thetelephone call was to be handled by a voice prompting produced by voicemail system 14 to record a voice message from the telephone caller. Theactivation of the voice mail system 14 to record a voice message left bya telephone caller to a subscriber of the telephone answering servicerequired the system 12 to place a telephone call to the telephone switch16 over low bandwidth telephone lines 19 which then connected thetelephone caller to the voice mail system 14 by telephone line 20.Similarly, all communications from the voice mail system 14 to thesystem 12 such as when a subscriber checked in and was connected to thevoice mail system and then wished to talk with an operator also requiredcommunications over telephone lines 19 and 20.

The prior art system of FIG. 1 has a number of disadvantages. In thefirst place, it has a plurality of separate systems each of which areconnected by low bandwidth connections which prevented high speed datacommunications which slowed the overall system operation. The foregoingnetwork required a number of analog to digital and digital to analogconverters. Users of this system could not obtain a summary of thenumber of textual messages and voice messages which had been answered bythe telephone answering system by placing a single telephone call.Therefore, if the subscriber's answering function had been programmed touse a combination of voice and textual messages in answering thesubscriber's telephone, to obtain the complete recorded messages it wasnecessary for a telephone call to be made to and answered by an operatorat the host system 12 who would manually transfer the telephone callerto the voice mail system 14 by dialing it or if a telephone call wasmade first to the voice mail system, thereafter the telephone callerwould dial "0" to reach on operator at the host system who would thengive information pertaining to recorded textual messages. Forcing thesubscriber to listen to the recorded messages in their entirety ishighly disadvantageous when the subscriber has time pressures such asoccur on trips away from the office. Furthermore, each of the system 12,voice mail system 14 and telephone switch 16 were controlled by separateprocessors which prevented an integrated operation of the system as awhole. Independent control of the parts of the system slowed downoperation and further made it more difficult to program different partsof the system in that they were not under the operation of a singlecontrol program. Finally, the prior art system of FIG. 1 is expensive.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,612,416 and 4,669,346 disclose an integrated voice andtextual message service system. The system of the aforementioned patentshas an architecture in which a programmed switch interfaces with a voicemail service and a textual message center. Communications between thevoice mail service and the switching network and between the messagecenter and the switching network are by means of telephone lines. Thisdistributed system has the same disadvantages of the prior art describedabove with regard to FIG. 1 in that the overall system is not controlledby a single integrated control and that system communications are basedupon telephone communications.

An answering system for recording voice and textual messages based upona Wang VS100 processor has been developed. This system is relativelyexpensive in that it is based upon a computing system much larger than apersonal computer.

PBX systems are known which include voice mail capability. With thesesystems, the voice mail function is added on to the PBX architecture.PBX based systems of this type are not under the control of anintegrated processor and therefore require communications over lowbandwidth lines connecting the PBX system to the add on voice mailsystem such as telephone lines or RS232 data lines. No summary ofrecorded text and voice messages is available. Communications betweenthe PBX and the voice mail system are by telephone line plus anauxiliary low bandwidth data line.

From the perspective of a person having their telephone answered by useof a telephone answering system, it is of extreme importance that themethod of answering the telephone projects an extension of the person'sactual telephone answering method. Thus, a telephone answering system inperforming operator assisted answering services should present atelephone response to the telephone caller which is knowledgeable of theperson's business whose telephone is being answered and which is highlyefficient in gathering important information to be provided to theperson at the time of check in telephone call to the answering system toobtain recorded messages. Furthermore, from the perspective of atelephone answering service or a private telephone switching system, itis extremely important that the operators are efficient at answeringtelephone calls to increase the throughout of answered telephone callsand further function to accurately record textual messages so as tomaintain the highest possible degree of satisfaction with persons havingthe telephone answered. Additionally, voice mail systems operated shouldto the greatest possible extend provide telephone callers with a senseof ease in leaving a voice recorded message.

At times where the number of telephone calls being answered withoperator intervention by a telephone answering service or by a privateswitching network is relatively high, it is of extreme importance toprovide the operator with a maximum amount of information compactlydisplayed on the display screen associated with the operator station topermit the operator to provide a personalized operator response to alltelephone callers connected to the operator including telephone callersto persons having their telephone answered as well as check-in telephonecalls from persons having their telephone answered by a telephoneanswering system who wish to obtain messages which have been recorded asvoice message or textual messages.

The assignee's EVE® provided operators at operator stations with adisplay on the display screen identifying telephone calls for personshaving their telephone answered (secretarial) and check-in telephonecalls to the operator from persons having their telephone answeredchecking in to obtain textual messages. However, this capability waslimited to check-in telephone calls and secretarial telephone calls anddid not identify other characteristics of telephone calls such as acheck-in telephone call to an operator originating from a telephone callto obtain the subscriber's voice message to obtain a special messagesuch as an emergency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a telephone answering system having voicemessage recording and textual message recording controlled by aprogrammable controller. The operation of the parts in the telephoneanswering system and communications within the system are controlled bya single control program. With the invention, high data transmissionrates between the controller, a voice recording system and a textrecording system and the system storage which records the textual andvoice messages are achieved by use of the data bus of a programmedpersonal computer. Usage of the data bus for transmission of datathroughout the system overcomes the problem with prior art systems whichutilized telephone bandwidth and/or low bandwidth data connectionsbetween distributed parts of the telephone answering system includingthe voice message recording system and the textual message recordingsystem.

Furthermore, the invention provides an up-to-date summary of the numberof telephone calls which have been answered by the voice messagerecording system and the textual message recording system of the presentinvention to persons using the telephone answering system to answertheir telephone calls. This enables the person using the telephoneanswering system with a single telephone call to rapidly identify thenature of the messages which have been received by the telephoneanswering system and further to enable a selective retrieval of themessages by dialing an operator DTMF tone to have the recorded textualmessages read by the operator and/or activating the playback of therecorded voice messages by inputting appropriate DTMF tones. Thisfeature provides maximum flexibility to the user of the telephoneanswering system which is especially useful for users of the telephoneanswering system who have limitations on the amount of time which may beused for retrieving messages with check-in telephone calls to thetelephone answering system.

Furthermore, in a situation when an emergency message has been left fora person having telephone calls answered by the telephone answeringsystem and attempts to reach the person have failed, the systemautomatically transfers a check-in telephone call of the person havingtheir telephone calls answered to an operator and displays at theoperator station that the telephone call is "expected" to immediatelyalert the operator that an emergency message should be given to thetelephone caller. This feature permits the system to quickly respond tosituations requiring conveying of emergency messages.

The telephone answering system of the present invention further providesa display to operators who operate the system of characteristics oftelephone calls to their operator station. This permits the operator torapidly obtain a maximum amount of information in the shortest possibleperiod of time which enables tailoring the precise method of answeringtelephone calls to the nature of the telephone call being received bythe operator station. Providing the operator with characteristics oftelephone calls to the operator station provides the operator withinformation necessary to personalize the method of answering thetelephone calls received by the operator station to the nature of thetelephone calls.

The present invention provides integrated voice mail and textual mailanswering capability to telephone answering systems at a cost notachievable with the prior art. The present invention achieves areduction in cost by elimination of the prior art distributed hardwarewhich is interconnected by telephone bandwidth and/or low bandwidth datacommunications. Additionally, the usage of a PC to program implementsystem control and the voice and textual recording functions provides anintegrated system at a low cost which is compatible with state of theart data processing and communications technology.

A number of programmable service options are provided to the user of thevoice message recording system. The first option is that the telephonecaller is permitted to immediately record a voice message in the systemmemory without operator intervention. The second option is that thetelephone caller requests assistance of an operator prior to recording avoice message in the system memory. The foregoing two options may beprovided alternatively. The at least one operator station coupled to theanswering system which is operated by an operator in answering telephonecalls includes a display device for displaying information in a displayarea of the display device stored in the system memory to be utilized bythe operator in answering telephone calls to the operator station. Theprogrammed controller decodes each telephone call to each operatorstation to determine a characteristic of the telephone call and causesinformation stored in the system memory to be displayed in the displayarea indicating a characteristic of the telephone call. Thecharacteristics may include an indication that the telephone call hasoccurred in response to activation of playback of a voice message storedin the system memory, that the telephone call to the operator station isfrom a telephone caller to a person having telephone calls answered bythe telephone answering system, and that the telephone call is acheck-in telephone call from a person having telephone calls answered bythe telephone answering system in a situation when an emergency messagehas been taken and attempts to reach the person have been unsuccessful.The characteristic may be that the telephone call a check-in telephonecall from a person having telephone calls answered by the telephoneanswering system.

The controller controls providing a voice summary of a number oftelephone calls recorded under control of the voice recording andtextual message recording systems stored in the system memory to atelephone caller when a connection of a check-in telephone call on theat least one telephone line is made to the answering system. Theprogrammed controller controls connection of the voice summary byproviding a recording requesting entry of a code, compares the enteredcode with codes stored in the system memory, with a separate code beingassigned to each person having telephone calls answered by the telephoneanswering system and upon matching the entered code with a stored codecauses the voice summary of the number of telephone calls to be played.The programmed controller, after controlling the providing of the voicesummary, provides a recording instructing selective entry of one of aplurality of access codes which control access to messages recorded bythe recording systems in the system memory, in response to an accesscode of the textual message recording system connects the telephonecaller to an operator to permit the operator to read any stored textualmessages stored in the system memory and in response to an access codeof the voice recording system connects the telephone caller to aplayback of the recorded voice messages stored in the system memory.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a prior art system.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an interconnection of the switch matrices of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates an individual file which is stored in the main memoryof the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates the format of the display used by an operator stationof the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the present invention. The presentinvention 21 provides in a programmed personal computer 22 a textualmessaging recording system 23, a voice message recording system 24 andan integrated control in the form of a programmed controller 25. Theoverall operation of the answering system 21 is controlled by theprogrammed controller 25. Preferably, the programmed personal computeris, but not limited to, an International Business Machines' PC-AT orcomputer compatible thereto. Furthermore, it should be understood thatthe present invention is no limited to an implementation in a personalcomputer with other computer controls being within the scope of theinvention. A suitable control program implements the functions of thetextual message recording system 23, voice message recording system 24and programmed controller 25 is contained in the above-referencedappendix. The details of the program will not be described except to theextent necessary to understand the present invention.

The program set forth in the appendix is a real time multtasking programsupporting multiple operators. The program supports an overall systemcontrol and the control of recording of textual and voice messagesimplementing the voice recording and text recording systems in theappendix are not separately identifiable. However, it should beunderstood that the invention is not limited to any particular method ofdistributing the textual message recording system 23, voice messagerecording system 24 and programmed controller 23 in the control program.In the preferred form of the invention, the program is executed by apersonal computer.

A DMA (direct memory access) circuit and memory 25' is controlled by theprogrammed controller 25 to control the transmission of data throughoutthe system over a transmission system 26 which preferably is theparallel digital data bus of the personal computer. All sources ofanalog data which are connected to the digital data bus are convertedfrom analog to digital format by A to D converters. Each source dataport which is connected to the digital data bus 26 addresses data to thememory in the DMA circuit and memory 25'. The programmed controller 25then applies a destination address within the system to the data whichis stored in the circuit and memory 25' for transmission to thedestination. Thereafter the DMA circuit controls the transmission of thedata stored in the memory to the addressed destination data portconnected to the digital data bus 26. Where necessary, the data at theaddressed data port is converted to analog format by D to A converters.This form of data transmission is highly advantageous in that datatransmissions between telephone input and output lines, the textualmessage recording system 23, the voice message recording system 24, andthe operator station(s) 27 are by means of a high bandwidth digital databus without requiring the placing of telephone calls or use of lowbandwidth data communications. Suitable D to A and A to D converters inthe D to A, A to D and A to A circuits 28 connect DID telephone lines 29and telephone trunk lines 30 to the bus 26. A system storage is providedby disk 31. Printer 32 is connected to the bus 26 for providingconventional printed outputs regarding system operation. A plurality ofoperator stations 27 are connected to the digital data bus 26 which areoperated by operators to provide operator assistance during operation ofthe system 21. An operator station headset control 33 is associated witheach operator station 27 to permit operators at the operator stations totalk to telephone callers on the telephone lines 30 through an operatorheadset (not illustrated), operator headset control 33, line 34 and theanalog to analog portion of the D to A, A to D and A to A circuits 28.The DID lines 29 are used conventionally to interface subscribers of atelephone answering service or a private telephone switching system withthe telephone company. The at least on telephone trunk line(s) 30couples the telephone answering system 21 to the telephone company toprovide the telephone answering service with one or more check-intelephone lines to obtain an up to date summary of the telephone callswhich have been answered by the telephone answering service or atelephone connection to telephone circuits outside of private telephoneswitching system to enable a summary of the telephone calls answered bythe telephone answering system to be obtained.

The programmed controller 25 supports at least one operator station withdisplay and keyboard 27 with support preferably being provided for aplurality of operator stations with display and keyboard. Each operatorstation with display and keyboard 27 is conventional. Each operatorstation with display and keyboard 27 is operated with an operator whichprovides live operator answering capability to telephone calls requiringoperator intervention as discussed below. Moreover, the control programlisting contained in the above-referenced appendix supports an operationin which each telephone call to be answered by the voice messagerecording system 24 has an operator answer the incoming telephone calland command that the call be answered under the control of the voicemessage recording system if the subscriber's service option describedbelow with reference to FIG. 5 specifies that telephone calls should beanswered with the voice message recording system. Preferably, theconnection of the voice message recording system 2 to the telephonecaller is automatically implemented by the control program interrogatingthe file of persons having telephone calls answered by the telephoneanswering system 21 to obtain the programmed service option which, ifprogrammed for recording of telephone calls by the voice messagerecording system, causes the telephone call to be recorded withoutoperator intervention.

The disk 31 functions as the system storage for the recorded textualmessages, the recorded voice messages and the control program.Furthermore, the disk 31 stores individual subscriber files of personshaving telephone answering services performed by a telephone answeringservice utilizing the telephone answering system 21 of the presentinvention or a file identifying persons who have telephone callsanswered by the telephone answering system of the present invention inconjunction with a private telephone switching network. These filescontain pertinent information regarding each person serviced by thetelephone answering system to be used by the control program of thetelephone answering system 21 and operators operating the operatorstation(s) with display and keyboard 27. This information is describedbelow with reference to FIG. 5. Furthermore, each subscriber filecontains a security code which must be inputted to the system to thetelephone answering system to obtain a summary of telephone callsanswered by the telephone answering system. Furthermore, each filecontains the service options to be utilized when the telephone answeringsystem 2 is automatically answering telephone calls without operatorintervention. These service options include programmable times at whichtelephone calls are to be answered by use of the textual messagerecording system 23 and the voice message recording system 24.

The programmed controller 25 jointly controls the textual messagerecording system 23 and the voice message recording system 24 asfollows. A telephone call which has been forwarded to the telephoneanswering system 21 as a consequence of activating telephone callforwarding to the telephone answering system is received on the DIDlines 29 or on other telephone lines. The DID lines may be used forother purposes such as when a person directly dials the telephoneanswering system 21. The number which is called is decoded by theprogrammed controller 25 in a conventional fashion. The decoded numberprovides a pointer to the file in memory to identify the service optionto be utilized in answering the incoming telephone call. This serviceoption is programmable as a function of time. Accordingly, afteridentification of the particular file, the programmed controller 25compares the current time with the time programmed of the serviceoptions to choose the service option to be used at the time of theincoming telephone call. Thereafter, the programmed controller 25controls the connection of the incoming telephone call to on of theoperator stations with display and keyboard 27 and the textual messagerecording system 23 thereafter controls the recording of textualmessages transmitted by an operator at an operator station with keyboard27 to the system memory 31 for recording or the voice message recordingsystem 24 controls the connection of the incoming telephone call to thesystem memory 31 for recording in accordance with the programmed serviceoption. Transmissions of textual messages between the operator stationwith display and keyboard 27 and the system memory 31 for recording aretransmitted over the digital data bus 26. Transmissions of voicemessages between a telephone line and the system memory for recordingare transmitted over the digital data bus 26. Textual messages aregenerated by the typing of the message on the keyboard of the operatorstation with display and keyboard 27. The transmission of system data onthe digital data bus 26 substantially speeds up communications betweenthe textual message recording system 23, the voice message recordingsystem 24, programmed controller 25, and operator stations with displayand keyboard 27 in comparison to the prior art which placed telephonecalls or used low bandwidth communications. Furthermore, the utilizationof a single control program which program implements the textual messagerecording system 23 and the voice message recording system 24 andprogrammed controller 25 provides maximum flexibility in permitting thetelephone answering system 21 of the present invention to be configuredto the needs of different environments such as telephone answeringservices and private telephone switching networks.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram 100 of a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention. The preferred embodiment 100 executes the controlprogram listed in the above-referenced appendix. It should be understoodthat the textual message recording system 23, voice mail recordingsystem 24, program controller 25 and transmission system 26 have beenomitted for the reason that these elements are implemented within theprogrammed host system 102 described above with reference to FIG. 2. TheAT compatible computer includes a clock calendar. A pair of serial ports104 respectively couple the host system 102 to the system modem 106 andto system printer 108. The serial ports 104 are standard serial portsused with the International Business Systems' AT computers. An interface110 provides an interface between the host system 102 and the operatorstations 112.

The interface 110 is connected to a remote input/output panel 114 havingeight ports 116. Ports 1-3 are respectively connected to the second,third and fourth operator stations 112 to transmit data to the PCcompatible computer and display contained in each of the operatorstations. Ports 4-8 are connected to modems and other outputs asindicated by 118, such as a remote printer, alpha paging or a PBXinterface to a PBX system having a serial port. The interface 110 is an8 port serial input/output board marketed by Forth Inc. of ManhattanBeach, Calif., as part number FB-ACL 8-2(H). The interface 110 is anintelligent input/output processor designed to implement differentserial protocols. Handling of serial protocols by the interface 110 offloads processing overhead from the host system 102 which frees the hostsystem for performing other tasks. Data compression capability may beimplemented in the host system 102 or in the interface 110 as aconsequence of the interface having an 8088 microprocessor.

Four identical voice processing boards 120 (voice processors) provide atelephony interface of the host system 102 with the telephone network.The voice processors 120 provide four loop start telephone lines 121.Viewed from the telephone company, the voice processors 120 have thecharacteristics of a telephone. The voice processors 120 implementnormal functions such as ring detection, software controlled answering,DTMF and dial pulse output and detection capabilities. Furthermore, thevoice processors 120 digitize incoming speech for storage on the systemdisk as well as playing back of previously stored data. The voiceprocessors 120 contain firmware to compress digital data. Furthermore,the voice processors 120 have dual ported RAM to enable data to betransferred to the host computer. The voice processors 120 detectwhether the telephone lines to which they are coupled are ringing, busyand off hook. The voice processors 120 are programmable to listen totones if a frequency is specified. The voice processors 120 have audiooutputs for a line which may be connected to an appropriate interfacesuch as switch matrices 122 which are discussed below to allow anincoming telephone caller to talk to a live operator. An 80186microprocessor is contained in each of the voice processors 120 tohandle control functions. The computer in the host system 102 containssoftware to communicate with the microprocessor of the voice processors120 and control all of the required telephony functions. For DIDtelephone lines, a ring back cadence is provided from the hard disk 31on all incoming DID telephone calls. Furthermore, the voice processors120 provide busy signals, messages if a wrong number comes in, automatedanswering for persons who have voice mail, recording and playback ofmessages, automatic dial out so that an operator can be processinganother telephone call while first telephone call is being dialed andDTMF decoding for automated voice mail functions. Optional DIDinterfaces 124 permit the loop start lines 121 to be connected to DIDtrunks 126. The voice processors 120 may be a D/41 board manufactured byDialogic Corporation of Parsippany, N.J.

The switch matrices 122 provide an operator audio interface to incomingtelephone calls. Moreover, the switch matrices 122 are used for operatorinput to voice mail. Each of the switching matrices 122 contain an 8×8analog crosspoint switch which allows any one of eight lines from thevoice processors 120 to be connected to DID trunks 126 The switchmatrices 122 are connected to a station adaptor 128 having 8 outputlines 129. In order to permit patching of two telephone calls together,the number of lines 129 connected to operator stations has been limitedto four. Lines 1-4 of the station adaptor are connected to the remoteoperator stations 112 and to the operator station 130 which is directlysupported by the host system 102. Lines 5-8 of the lines 129 of thestation adaptor 128 are used for patching together of two telephonecalls with the capability of the operator being able to interrupt thepatched telephone calls. The switching matrices are a DialogicCorporation AMX/81 boards.

FIG. 4 illustrates the interconnection of the switch matrices 122 ofFIG. 3. Like reference numerals identify like parts in FIGS. 3 and 4.The bracketed lines "1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th" respectively indicateconnections to the first, second, third and fourth voice processors 120described above in FIG. 3. The telephone interface 150 is used toconnect operators at the operator stations to the voice processors 120described above. Thus, if a telephone call comes in on one of the linesform the telephone company to a voice processor 120, one of the crosspoints on the right-hand switching matrix is closed and the signal istransmitted to the left-hand switching matrix. The signal is transmittedthrough the telephone interface 150 to the operator. The combined effectof the switching matrices 122 is that they jointly function as a single16×8 crossover matrix. At the present time, the right-hand telephoneinterface is not utilized.

FIG. 5 illustrates a memory map of data contained in an individualperson's file which is stored in the system memory storage disk 31 ofthe answering system 21. It should be understood that the terminology"person" as used in describing the invention is intended to identify allpersons who are serviced by usage of the present invention including,but not limited to, subscribers of a conventional telephone answeringservice as well as persons who have telephones associated with privatetelephone switches such as PBX switches. As described below theinformation contained in the individual file illustrated in FIG. 5 isthat which may be utilized by a telephone answering system in accordancewith the present invention being used by a telephone answering service.Suitable modifications may be made to this information to servicepersons whose telephones are answered by private telephone switches orother applications. The "account #" identifies the number assigned tothe person's account. This number is utilized for purposes of billingand account identification. The "client name" is the name of the personwhose telephone is being answered. The "answer phrase" is the phrasewhich is desired by the person to be used when the operator answers atelephone call for purposes of greeting the telephone caller in theappropriate manner. The "message form" is a form having one or moreblanks in which information provided by the telephone caller is filledin to create a complete message which is read back to the person upontelephone call in on a check in line. The "operator preference" isprogrammable to automatically cause a certain operator station(s) to becalled when a telephone call is incoming for the person. The operatorpreference permits operator stations to be listed to be eligible fortelephone calls according to required or preferred telephone calleligibility groups or stations. The "operator preference" permits theperson to have a particular operator to be utilized for answering theperson's telephones. The "DID #" is the digits assigned to the personfor telephone calls incoming on a block of DID lines 29 when theanswering service has been activated to answer the person's telephone.The "DID #" may be three or four digits out of the block of digitsprovided in a DID trunk by the telephone company. The programmedcontroller 25 operates to decode the DID digits of an incoming telephonecall for a person and utilizes those digits as a pointer to identify theindividual file. Accordingly, the DID number functions as an address ofpertinent information utilized for automatic operation of the telephoneanswering system in accordance with the invention such as when theperson desires for telephone messages to be left by operation of thevoice message recording system 24 without line operator intervention.The "# of rings" is a programmable variable which is the maximum numberof times a person's telephone should ring before the answering serviceanswers with an operator or to request a voice message generated by thevoice message recording system 24. The "security code" functions as apassword for screening incoming telephone calls so that only persons whodesire to obtain a summary of messages recorded under the control of thetextual message recording system 23 and the voice message recordingsystem 24 in the system memory 31 are available to only the person.

The telephone answering system 21 of the present invention answers eachcheck in telephone call by providing a voice message to the telephonecaller to input their security code. The programmed controller 25 thendecodes the DTMF tones and determines if a match between the inputtedcode and a stored person's code exists to permit the person to haveaccess to the automatic check in. Assuming that the telephone callerenters a valid security code, the programmed controller 25 thereaftercauses a voice synthesized message to be played to the telephone caller:"You have₋₋ secretarial messages and₋₋ voice messages" with theinformation provided in blanks being dynamically stored in the systemmemory 31 to reflect the current count of messages which have beenrecorded under the control of the textual message recording system 23and the voice message recording system 24 at the time of the check infrom the telephone caller. The blanks are filled in by a synthesizedvoice which dynamically changes as the number of telephone callschanges. The "on-off time of system" is the programmed time at which thetelephone answering system is to be operative to answer telephone callsof the subscriber.

The "account information" is up to eight page of pertinent informationpertaining to the person for the benefit of the answering service. Forexample, the account information may include information regardingtelephone calls of differing types which require the operator to be ableto tailor information to the type of telephone call being received.

The "programmed service option(s)" includes an identification of thetimes at which telephone calls are to be answered by the telephoneanswering system 21 under the control of the textual message recordingsystem 23 and the voice message recording system 24. The telephoneanswering system 21 has the capability of answering telephone calls topersons having telephone calls answered under the control of the textualmessage recording system 23 and the voice message recording system 24 atdifferent times during the day to permit the person to select theprecise method of answering telephone calls as a function of time.

An important part of the present invention is the automatic check inwhich permits the person to obtain the above-described numerical summaryof the telephone calls which have been answered by the textual messagerecording system 23 and the voice message recording system 24. The useof the automatic check-in by the person is described as follows. Theperson is required to know three things which are a telephone number toplace a check in telephone call, the person's security code as describedabove, and that the check-in telephone call must be placed from atelephone with DTMF capability. The check-in telephone number may be anyDID number or any ringing incoming business trunk. The DID number(s)and/or business trunks are assigned for use in check-in at the time ofthe set up of the telephone answering system of the present invention.All persons may share the same number. All telephone calls to thecheck-in number(s) are given a voice recording requesting entry of thesecurity code and subsequent menu described below.

The complete security code consists of 4-8 digits terminated by thetelephone # key. The last four digits are the "account number" describedabove. The first four digits are programmed at the person's service setup and may be any 0-4 digit combination of 0-9. The * telephone key andthe # telephone key may not be used. The first four digits are thesecurity portion of the security code. The security portion of thesecurity code may be changed at any time and does not have to bedifferent for every person. The security portion of the security codemay be four digits from a birth date or social security or officeextension number. For example, if the account number is 123 and thesecurity portion is 426, the person enters 4260123# in response to thetelephone answering system 21 of the present invention requesting entryof the security code. The telephone answering system 21 of the presentinvention uses voice messages through the remainder of the check-inprocedure. As the person becomes familiar with the dialogue, the persondoes not have to wait for voice instructions with it being possible fordigits to be entered to execute a command or skip the menu. If theperson's telephone keys have a standard alphabetic imprint, the commandsfor playing, discarding and keeping messages have the mnemonics P,D andK.

When the invention utilizes the computer control program contained inthe above-referenced appendix, a check-in telephone call must be placedfrom a telephone which sends DTMF tones. Alternatively, if a persontelephone calls from a telephone which does not have DTMF tonegenerating capability, the person must stay on the telephone until anoperator answers the check in telephone call at which time the personmay be manually referred to the summary described above of the number oftelephone calls answered by the telephone answering system in responseto an operator action.

The following describes one acceptable sequence for entering thesecurity code. The telephone answering system of the invention answersthe check in telephone call by saying "Thank you for calling. Pleaseenter your pass code or wait. Press the number key (#) to end yourentry". If the telephone caller enters a valid security code, thetelephone answering system states "Thank you for checking in." If thetelephone caller enters an invalid security code, the telephoneanswering system states "That number was not received correctly. Pleasetry again or wait." If the telephone caller again enters a security codeincorrectly, the telephone answering system states "That number was notreceived correctly. You are being transferred to a secretary forassistance. Please stay on the line." and the telephone call is placedinto distribution for answering by an operator at an operator station.

The present invention permits an operator to be waiting for a check-intelephone call such as when a telephone message has been given that anemergency exists and attempts to reach the person have beenunsuccessful. In this circumstance, the telephone answering systemstates to the telephone caller "We are waiting for your telephone call.Please stand by."

Upon entry of a valid security code and playback to the telephone callerof the number of secretarial messages and voice messages as describedabove, the following choices exist to the telephone caller which areprovided by the following voice message: "Press 7 to play the firstmessage, (if there are voice messages), 0 to reach your telephonesecretary, 9 to disconnect if you're checking out, 2 if you can bereached at another number, 4 if you're on pager, 6 if you're off pager,and 8 if you're checking in." The inputted numbers "0" and "7" functionas access codes respectively for obtaining textual messages recordedunder the control of the textual message recording system 23 and voicemessages recorded under the control of the voice message recordingsystem 24. If the telephone caller does nothing for three seconds, theabove sequence is recited again. It should be noted that the option ofplaying back voice recorded messages is automatically not provided ifthere are no voice messages in storage in the system memory 31 for theperson who is calling.

If one or more voice messages are stored by the voice message recordingsystem 24 and the person enters the number 7 as described above, thefollowing voice messages are provided after the first recorded voicemessage is played back by the voice message recording system: "End ofmessage. Press 3 to discard this message and play the next, 5 to keep itand play the next, 7 to play the current message, 0 to reach yourtelephone secretary and 9 to disconnect. Press the # key when finished."To scroll through and pick up all messages, the person wouldsuccessively press 3 and 7. As described above, if letters are on thedialing keys, 3 is to discard, 5 is to keep and 7 is to play. Entry of 3is confirmed with the voice message "Message discarded" and makes thenext message the current message. Entry of 5 is confirmed with "Messagekept" and makes the next message the current message. If 3 or 5 is usedon a message, entry of 7 will play the next message. Otherwise, thetelephone answering system will replay a message. Entry of 0 causes anoperator station to be dialed which initiates the usual behavior of theoperator in answering a check-in telephone call. Nine (9) disconnectsthe person. Entry of the # sign plays the main check in menu describedabove. Entry of any other digit(s) produces an illegal numberedbehavior. Each message which is played is followed by the voice message"end of message". When the last message is played, the telephoneanswering system states "You have no unplayed messages" and repeats themain check-in menu described above.

The control program may be modified so that when a person wishes toactivate the telephone answering system by initiating telephone callforwarding, the subscriber may check-in at the time that telephone callforwarding has been activated without operator assistance by dialing the# key during the first ring.

FIG. 6 illustrates a display screen 200 utilized by the operatorstations of the present invention in answering telephone calls. Thescreen 200 is organized into six blocks described as follows. The firstblock 204 plays an important part in the present invention's ability tofacilitate an operator answering telephone calls with the highestpossible degree of information individualized for the particular needsof each subscriber. Block 204 under the control of the control programprovides the operator with one or more characteristics pertaining to acurrent telephone call providing information of the current telephonecall to the operator station. The characteristic(s) provided in block204 inform the operator at an operator station prior to making aconnection of information utilized by the operator to compose a voicesequence in answering the telephone call which is tailored to theprecise nature of the telephone call. This characteristic of block 204may generally be referred to "point of origin" information pertaining toa current telephone call but it should be understood that thecharacteristics to be displayed in block 204 are not limited to "pointof origin" information. In order to provide the maximum possiblepersonalization of answering of a person's telephone call in a mannerwhich reflects an extension of the person's own practices of answeringthe telephone, it is desirable to provide the operator with informationpertaining to the origin of the telephone call such as if the person hasinitiated obtaining a playback of voice recorded telephone calls. Forexample, an operator's response in answering a telephone call placed tothe operator station from the person that originates after connection tothe voice message recording system to obtain the voice messages recordedin the system storage 31 is usually a request to the operator for aspecial message such as an emergency and need not be particularized toreflect how the person wishes its telephone to be answered for atelephone call being placed to the person. Alternatively, when atelephone call is placed to the operator station requiring the operatorto answer the person's telephone in a manner in which the person wouldanswer its own phone, it is highly desirable to have the operatorutilize the answer phrase as described above with reference to FIG. 5which would be of no benefit for a check in telephone call. Moreover,from the standpoint of operator efficiency, certainty in the operator'smind regarding the precise sequence to be utilized for answering alltelephone calls to the operator station is greatly facilitated by theoperator knowing the characteristics of all of the telephone calls tothe operator station such as their point of origin from a personobtaining recorded voice messages. With the present invention'scapability of permitting automatic check-in to obtain voice messagesrecorded under the control of the voice message recording system 24, aswell as permitting connection to the operator when check-in telephonecalls are received from the person, the characteristic(s) displayed inblock 204 provides the operator with a maximum sense of how eachtelephone call to the operator station should be answered as a functionof where and how it originated. The characteristic information displayedin block 204 also informs the operator if the telephone call is from twotelephone calls which have been connected together as described abovewith reference to the lines 5-8 of the station adaptor 128 illustratedin FIG. 4. Furthermore, the characteristic informs the operator if aperson has called to obtain a summary of recorded messages in acircumstance when an emergency message has been left and attempts toreach the person have been unsuccessful. Providing of emergency messagesto persons is of paramount importance for users of a telephone answeringsystem.

Examples of characteristics are as follows. "From voice" indicates thatthe telephone caller dialed the "0" operator key from the playback ofvoice messages recorded by the textual message recording system 24."From PTCH" indicates that the telephone caller dialed the "0" operatorkey from two telephone calls which had been patched together by thetelephone answering system 21. "Expected" indicates that the telephonecall is from a person having telephone calls answered b the telephoneanswering system 21 in an emergency situation where attempts to reachthe person have failed or that the telephone call is one to which apatch is to be made.

The station status line indicates the station and system traffic statusincluding the station number, whether it is on or off, the first name ofthe operator operating the station, the number of telephone calls whichare waiting to be answered (waits), an events indication indicating if asystem warning message has been printed on the printer 32, and thecurrent date and time. The number of "waits" is the number of waitingtelephone calls not on another operator screen which the operator at theoperator station is eligible to answer. If two operators are eligiblefor a waiting telephone call, both screens will show the telephone callas a wait.

Block 206 summarizes the three most current telephone calls which awaitanswer. If the operator is a trainee or the telephone answering systemis programmed for one telephone call at a time, one telephone call willshow. The telephone call being answered is highlighted with theanswering information regarding the point of origin block 204 describedabove. Block 206 displays traffic window detail such as if the currenttelephone call is ringing, a talking connection exists, the telephonecall is on hold or it is a conference telephone call, the number ofrings, is the telephone call a check-in telephone call, the accountnumber and the account name.

The windows 208 provide an index to enable the operator to quicklyidentify pertinent information contained in block 210 described below.Status detail is automatically applied and highlighted at the beginningof an index line with the statuses of "urgent" indicating an urgentmessage, "delivered" indicating a delivered message, "voice" indicatingan unplayed voice message is attached, "played" indicating that a playedvoice message is attached and "delivered special" indicating that aspecial message has been delivered.

The "what's where line" identifies the contents of the index windows 208above and the information 210 below. This line is primarily used as atraining key.

Furthermore, in accordance with the present invention, unlike the priorart, information in the index windows is keyed to reflect certaininformation regarding the characteristics of block 204 described above.A "ZERO" displayed as the state of the telephone call means that thetelephone call has arrived because a telephone caller dialed 0 while ina playback of stored voice message to request an operator. A "0"telephone call has not been answered by an operator. "PTCH" means thatthe telephone call is patched and that the operator is not involved."TK-1" means that the operator is talking to the first party in a twoparty telephone call. "TK-2" means the operator is talking to the secondparty in a two party telephone call. "DISC" means that the telephonecall has been disconnected.

Block 210 is information obtained from 8 pages of account informationdescribed above. This information may be varied by the operator. Specialinformation is temporary information which is stored in a blank pagehaving twelve 38 character lines. The "message" is one of 200 usercreated selectable message forms each having twelve 38 character lines.The history is information associated with each message and special. Thehistory lists actions taken to deliver the message. The first elevenlines show the first eleven actions and the last line is overwritten toshow the latest of more than twelve actions. The history actions arereflective of the history of the person's account regarding the takingof messages by the answering system of the present invention.

While the invention has been described in terms of its preferredembodiments, it should be understood that numerous modifications may bemade to the present invention without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It is intendedthat all such modifications fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

I claim:
 1. A telephone answering system for providing textual messagesand voice messages produced by the telephone answering system answeringtelephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by thetelephone answering system comprising:a system memory for storingtextual and voice messages; a voice message recording system forcontrolling recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls topersons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answeringsystem in the system memory; a textual message recording system forcontrolling recording of textual messages provided by an operator whoanswers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answeredby the telephone answering system in the system memory; and a programmedcontroller for controlling the operation of the voice message recordingsystem and the textual message recording system by execution of acontrol program, the programmed controller decoding a telephone numberof each telephone call to a person having telephone calls answered bythe telephone answering system, determining a programmed service optionto be performed in answering each telephone call to persons havingtelephone calls answered by the telephone answering system based uponthe decoded telephone number, causing the voice message recording systemto record a voice message in the system memory if the service option isspecified to be answering telephone calls by the voice message recordingsystem, initiating ringing of an operator to cause the operator toanswer the telephone call and causing the textual message recordingsystem to record a textual message in the system memory if the serviceoption is specified to use an operator to record a textual message inthe system memory; and wherein the recording systems under the controlof the programmed controller reproduce individual recorded messagesrecorded by the recording systems.
 2. A telephone answering system inaccordance with claim 1 further comprising:at least one telephone linecoupling telephone calls placed to persons having telephone callsanswered by the answering system; at least one operator station witheach operator station being used to answer telephone calls to berecorded by the textual message recording system; a data transmissionsystem coupling the at least one telephone line to the system memory forrecording voice messages and the at least one operator station to thesystem memory for recording textual messages transmitted from theoperator station and wherein; the controller controls transmission oftextual messages from the at least one operator station to the systemmemory for storage and voice messages on the at least one telephone lineto the system memory for recording.
 3. A telephone answering system inaccordance with claim 2 wherein the transmission system comprises:adigital data bus; an analog to digital converter for converting audiosignals received on the at least one telephone line to digital format,the analog to digital converter being coupled to the digital data bus; amemory, coupled to the digital data bus, for storing data to betransmitted by direct memory access, to destinations in the telephoneanswering system; an analog transmission path coupling the at least onetelephone line to an operator headset at each operator station; thedigital data bus receiving textual messages stored in the memory; thedigital data bus receiving voice messages stored in the memory; and thecontroller controlling the transmission of messages on the data busstored in the memory by direct memory access to the system memory forrecording under control of the control program.
 4. A telephone answeringsystem in accordance with claim 2 wherein the programmed service optionof recording a voice message comprises:a telephone caller to the personimmediately recording a voice message in the system memory withoutoperator intervention.
 5. A telephone answering system in accordancewith claim 2 wherein the programmed service option of recording a voicemessage comprises:a telephone caller to the person requesting assistanceof an operator prior to recording a voice message in the system memory.6. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 2 wherein theprogrammed service option of recording a voice message comprises:atelephone caller to the person immediately recording voice message inthe system memory without operator intervention; or a telephone callerto the person requesting assistance of an operator prior to recording avoice message in the system memory.
 7. A telephone answering system inaccordance with claim 1 further comprising:at least one operator stationcoupled to the telephone answering system which is operated by anoperator in answering telephone calls, each operator station including adisplay device for displaying information to be utilized by the operatorin answering telephone calls to the operator station in a display areaof the display device; and wherein the controller decodes informationtransmitted with each telephone call to each operator station todetermine a characteristic of the telephone call and causes informationstored in the system memory to be displayed in the display areaindicating the characteristic of the telephone call.
 8. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 7 wherein:the characteristicis that the telephone call has occurred in response to activation ofplayback of a voice message stored in the system memory.
 9. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 7 wherein:the characteristicis that the telephone call to the operator station is from a telephonecaller of a person having their telephone answered by the telephoneanswering system.
 10. A telephone answering system in accordance withclaim 7 wherein:the characteristic is that the telephone call hasoccurred in response to activation of playback of a voice message storedin the system memory or the characteristic is that the telephone call tothe operator station is from a telephone caller to a person havingtelephone calls answered by the telephone answering system.
 11. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 7 wherein:thecharacteristic is that the telephone call is a check-in call from aperson having their telephone answered by the telephone answeringsystem.
 12. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 11wherein:the programmed controller controls providing a voice summary ofa number of telephone calls stored in the system memory under thecontrol of the voice recording and textual message recording systemswhen a check-in telephone call is answered by the telephone answeringsystem.
 13. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 12wherein:the programmed controller controls connection to the check-intelephone call by providing a recording requesting entry of a code,compares the entered code with codes stored in the memory, with aseparate code being assigned to each person having telephone callsanswered by the telephone answering system and upon matching the enteredcode with a stored code causes the voice summary of the number oftelephone calls to be played back.
 14. A telephone answering system inaccordance with claim 1 wherein:the system memory stores a fileincluding a code for each person having telephone calls being answeredby the telephone answering system which must be matched with a codeentered by telephone call to the telephone answering system prior toaccess to the memory being provided; and the programmed controllercontrols generating a summary of a number of telephone calls stored inthe system memory under control of the voice recording and textualmessage recording systems while the answering system is operating toanswer telephone calls with either the voice recording or textualrecording systems.
 15. A telephone answering system in accordance withclaim 14 further comprising:at least one telephone line coupled to thetelephone answering system; and wherein the programmed controllercontrols providing a voice summary of the number of telephone calls bycontrolling connection to a telephone caller on the at least onetelephone line by providing a recording to the telephone callerrequesting entry of a code, comparing the entered code with codes storedin the system memory, and upon matching the entered code with a storedcode causing the voice summary of the person whose code has been matchedto be played.
 16. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim15 wherein:the programmed controller, after controlling the providing ofthe voice summary, provides a recording instructing selective entry ofone of a plurality of access codes which control access to messagesrecorded by the recording systems in the system memory, in response toan access code of the textual message recording system connects thetelephone caller to an operator to permit the operator to read anystored textual messages stored in the system memory and in response toan access code of the voice recording system connects the telephonecaller to a playback of the recorded voice messages stored in the systemmemory.
 17. A telephone answering system for providing textual messagesand voice messages produced by the telephone answering system answeringtelephone calls to persons having telephone calls answered by thetelephone answering system comprising:a system memory for storingtextual and voice messages; a voice message recording system forcontrolling recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls topersons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answeringsystem in the system memory; a textual message recording system forcontrolling recording of textual messages provided by an operator whoanswers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answeredby the telephone answering system in the system memory; and a programmedpersonal computer, the voice message recording system and the textualmessage recording system being program implemented within a programexecuted by the personal computer, the programmed personal computerdecoding a telephone number of each telephone call to a person havingtelephone calls answered by the telephone answering system, determininga programmed service option to be performed in answering each telephonecall to persons having telephone calls answered by the telephoneanswering system based upon the decoded telephone number, the voicemessage recording system controlling the recording of a voice message inthe system memory if the service option is specified to answer telephonecalls by the voice message recording system, the programmed computerinitiating ringing of an operator to cause the operator to answer thetelephone call to the person having telephone calls answered by theanswering system add the textual message recording system controllingthe recording of a textual message in the system memory if the serviceoption is specified to use an operator to record a textual message onthe textual message recording system, the programmed personal computerhaving a digital data bus on which digitally encoded voice messages aretransmitted under the control of the voice message recording system tothe system memory for recording and on which digitally encoded textualmessages are transmitted under control of the textual message recordingsystem to the system memory for recording; and wherein the recordingsystems under the control of the programmed controller reproduceindividual recorded messages recorded by the recording systems.
 18. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein theprogrammed service option of recording a voice message comprises:thetelephone caller to the person immediately recording a voice message inthe system memory without operator intervention.
 19. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein the programmedservice option of recording a voice message comprises:the telephonecaller to the person requesting assistance of an operator prior torecording a voice message in the system memory.
 20. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 17 wherein the programmedservice option of recording a voice message comprises:the telephonecaller to the person immediately recording a voice message in the systemmemory without operator intervention; or the telephone caller to theperson requests assistance of an operator prior to recording a voicemessage in the system memory.
 21. A telephone answering system inaccordance with claim 17 further comprising:at least one operatorstation coupled to the answering system which is operated by an operatorin answering telephone calls, the operator station including a displaydevice for displaying information stored in the system memory to beutilized by the operator in answering telephone calls to the operatorstation in a display area of the display device; and the programmedpersonal computer decodes each telephone call to each operator stationto determine a characteristic of the telephone call and causesinformation stored in the system memory to be displayed in the displayarea indicating the characteristic of the telephone call.
 22. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 21 wherein:thecharacteristic is that the telephone call has occurred in response toactivation of playback of a voice message stored in the system memory.23. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 22 wherein:thecharacteristic is that the telephone call to the operator station is toa telephone which is answered by the telephone answering system.
 24. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 21 wherein:thecharacteristic is that the telephone call has occurred in response toactivation of playback of a voice message stored in the system memory oris that the telephone call to the operator station is from a telephonecall to a person having telephone calls answered by the answeringsystem.
 25. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 23wherein:the characteristic is that the telephone call is a check-intelephone call.
 26. A telephone answering system in accordance withclaim 25 wherein:the programmed personal computer controls providing avoice summary of a number of telephone calls recorded under the controlof the voice recording and textual message recording systems in thesystem memory when a connection to a check-in telephone call is made tothe telephone answering system.
 27. A telephone answering system inaccordance with claim 26 wherein:the programmed personal computercontrols connection to a check-in telephone call by providing arecording requesting entry of a code of a person whose telephone isbeing answered by the telephone answering system, compares the enteredcode with codes stored in the system memory, with a separate code in thesystem memory being assigned to each person having a telephone answeredby the telephone answering system, and upon matching the entered codewith a stored code causes the voice summary of the number of telephonecalls to be played back.
 28. A telephone answering system in accordancewith claim 17 wherein:the system memory stores a file including a codefor each person whose telephone calls are being answered by thetelephone answering system which must be matched with a code entered bytelephone call to the telephone answering system prior to access to thesystem memory being provided; and the programmed personal computercontrols generating a summary of a number of telephone calls recordedunder the control of the voice recording and textual message recordingsystems in the system memory while the answering system is operating toanswer telephone calls with either the voice message recording ortextual message recording systems.
 29. A telephone answering system inaccordance with claim 28 further comprising:at least one telephone linecoupled to the telephone answering system and wherein; the programmedpersonal computer controls providing a voice summary of the number oftelephone calls by controlling a connection to a check in telephone callby providing a recording requesting entry of a code, compares theentered code with codes stored in the system memory, and upon matchingthe entered code with a stored code causes the voice summary of theperson whose telephone is being answered by the telephone answeringservice whose code has been matched to be played.
 30. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 29 wherein:the programmedpersonal computer, after controlling the providing of the voice summary,provides a recording instructing the selective entry of one of pluralityof access codes which control access to messages recorded by therecording systems in the system memory, in response to an access code ofthe textual message recording system connects the telephone caller to anoperator to permit the operator to read any stored textual messagesstored in the system memory and in response to an access code of thevoice recording system connects the telephone caller to a playback ofthe recorded voice messages stored in the system memory.
 31. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 7 wherein:the characteristicis that the telephone call to the operator station comprises conferencedtelephone calls.
 32. A telephone answering system in accordance withclaim 21 wherein:the characteristic is that the telephone call to theoperator station comprises conferenced telephone calls.
 33. A telephoneanswering system for providing textual messages and voice messagesproduced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls ofpersons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answeringsystem comprising:a system memory for storing textual and voicemessages; a voice message recording system for controlling recording ofvoice messages from answered telephone calls to persons having telephonecalls answered by the telephone answering system in the system memory; atextual message recording system for controlling recording of textualmessages provided by an operator who answers telephone calls made topersons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answeringsystem in the system memory; and a programmed computer for controllingthe operation of the voice message recording and the textual messagerecording systems by execution of a control program controlling therecording systems, causing the voice message recording system to controlrecording of a voice message in the system memory if a person hasspecified that telephone calls be answered by the voice messagerecording system, initiating ringing of an operator to cause theoperator to answer a telephone call and causing the textual messagerecording system to control the recording of a textual message in thesystem memory if a person has specified that an operator record atextual message in the system memory in answering telephone calls, theprogrammed computer having a digital data bus on which digitally encodedvoice messages are transmitted under the control of the voice messagerecording system to the system memory for recording and on whichdigitally encoded textual messages are transmitted under control of thetextual message recording system to the system memory for recording; andwherein the recording systems under the control of the programmedcontroller reproduce individual messages recorded by the recordingsystems.
 34. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 33wherein:the voice message recording and textual message recordingsystems are program implemented in the programmed computer.
 35. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 34 furthercomprising:means for transferring data on the digital data bus by directmemory access with all data transmitted under the control of the voicemessage recording and textual message recording systems being through amemory, coupled to the means for transferring data, for storing data tobe transmitted by direct memory access.
 36. A telephone answering systemin accordance with claim 34 wherein:the programmed computer controlsproviding a voice summary of a number of telephone calls stored in thesystem memory under control of the voice recording and textual messagerecording systems to a telephone caller when a connection of a check-intelephone call is made to the answering system.
 37. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 36 wherein:the programmedcomputer controls connection to a check-in telephone call by providing arecording to a telephone caller requesting entry of a code, compares theentered code with codes stored in the memory, with a code being assignedto each person whose telephone calls are being answered by the answeringsystem, and upon matching the entered code with a stored code causes thevoice summary of the number of telephone calls to be played back.
 38. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 37 wherein:thesystem memory stores a file including a code for each person whosetelephone calls are being answered by the telephone answering systemwhich must be matched with a code entered by a telephone call to thetelephone answering system prior to access to the memory being provided;and the programmed computer controls generating a summary of a number oftelephone calls recorded under control of the voice recording andtextual message recording systems in the system memory while theanswering system is operating to answer telephone calls with either thevoice recording or textual recording systems.
 39. A telephone answeringsystem in accordance with claim 38 further comprising:at least onetelephone line coupled to the telephone answering system; and whereinthe programmed computer controls providing a voice summary of the numberof telephone calls by controlling connection to a telephone caller onthe at least one telephone line by providing a recording requestingentry of a code, compares the entered code with codes stored in thesystem memory, and upon matching the entered code with a stored codecauses the voice summary of the person whose code has been matched to beplayed.
 40. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 39wherein:the programmed computer, after controlling the providing of thevoice summary, provides a recording instructing selective entry of oneof a plurality of access codes which controls access to messagesrecorded by the recording systems in the system memory, in response toan access code of the textual message recording system connects thetelephone caller to an operator to permit the operator to read anystored textual messages stored in the system memory and in response toan access code of the voice recording system connects the telephonecaller to a playback of the recorded voice messages stored in the systemmemory.
 41. telephone answering system for providing textual messagesand voice messages produced by the telephone answering system answeringtelephone calls of persons having telephone calls answered by thetelephone answering system comprising:a system memory for storingtextual and voice messages; a voice message recording system forcontrolling recording of voice messages from answered telephone calls ofpersons having telephone calls answered by the telephone answeringsystem in the system memory; a textual message recording system forcontrolling recording of textual messages provided by an operator whoanswers telephone calls made to persons having telephone calls answeredby the telephone answering system in the system memory; and a programmedcomputer, the voice message recording and the textual message recordingsystems being program implemented within a program executed by theprogrammed computer, the voice message recording system controllingrecording of voice messages in the system memory if a person hasspecified that telephone calls be answered by the voice messagerecording system, the programmed computer initiating ringing of anoperator to cause the operator to answer a telephone call and thetextual message recording system controlling the recording of a textualmessage in the system memory if a person has specified that an operatorrecord a textual message in the system memory in answering telephonecalls, the programmed computer having a digital data bus on whichdigitally encoded voice messages are transmitted under the control ofthe voice message recording system to the system memory for recordingand on which digitally encoded textual messages are transmitted undercontrol of the textual message recording system to the system memory forrecording; and wherein the recording systems under the control of theprogrammed controller, reproduce individual recorded messages.
 42. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 41 wherein:theprogrammed computer controls providing a voice summary of a number oftelephone calls stored in the system memory under control of the voicerecording and textual message recording systems to a telephone callerwhen a connection of a check-in telephone call is made to the answeringsystem.
 43. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 42wherein:the programmed computer controls connection to a check-intelephone call by providing a recording requesting entry of a code,compares the entered code with codes stored in the memory, with a codebeing assigned to each person having telephone calls answered by theanswering system, and upon matching the entered code with a stored codecauses the voice summary of the number of telephone calls to be playedback.
 44. A telephone answering system in accordance with claim 41wherein:the system memory stores a file including a code for each personwhose telephone calls are being answered by the telephone answeringsystem which must be matched with a code entered by a check-in telephonecall to the telephone answering system prior to access to the memorybeing provided; and the programmed computer controls generating asummary of a number of telephone calls recorded under control of theVoice recording and textual message recording systems in the systemmemory while the answering system is operating to answer telephone callswith either the voice recording or textual recording systems.
 45. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 44 furthercomprising:at least one telephone line coupled to the telephoneanswering system; and wherein the programmed controller controlsproviding a voice summary of the number of telephone calls bycontrolling connection to a check-in telephone call by providing arecording requesting entry of a code, compares the entered code withcodes stored in the system memory, and upon matching the entered codewith a stored code causes the voice summary of the person whose code hasbeen matched to be played.
 46. A telephone answering system inaccordance with claim 45 wherein:the programmed computer, aftercontrolling the providing of the voice summary to the telephone caller,provides a recording instructing selective entry of one of plurality ofaccess codes which control access to messages recorded by the recordingsystems in the system memory, in response to an access code of thetextual message recording system connects the telephone caller to anoperator to permit the operator to read any stored textual messagesstored in the system memory and in response to an access code of thevoice recording system connects the telephone caller to a playback ofthe recorded voice messages stored in the system memory.
 47. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 7 wherein:the characteristicis that an emergency message has been recorded by the telephoneanswering system for a person having telephone calls answered by thetelephone answering system and all attempts to reach the person todeliver the emergency message have failed and the person has placed acheck-in telephone call to the telephone answering system.
 48. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 47 wherein:thetelephone answering system automatically upon answering the check-intelephone call from the person, rings an operator station and displaysin the display area that the answered call is expected.
 49. A telephoneanswering system in accordance with claim 21 wherein:the characteristicis that an emergency message has been recorded by the telephoneanswering system for a person having telephone calls answered by thetelephone answering system and all attempts to reach the person todeliver the emergency message have failed and the person has placed acheck-in telephone call to the telephone answering system.
 50. Atelephone answering system in accordance with claim 49 wherein:thetelephone answering system automatically upon answering the check-intelephone call from the person, rings an operator station and displaysin the display area that the answered call is expected.
 51. A telephoneanswering system for providing textual messages and voice messagesproduced by the telephone answering system answering telephone calls topersons having telephones calls answered by the telephone answeringsystem comprising:a voice message recording system for recording voicemessages provided by a caller to persons having telephone calls answeredby the telephone answering system in response to the answering of atelephone call by the telephone answering system; a textual messagerecording system for recording textual messages provided by an operatorwho answers telephone calls made to persons having telephone callsanswered by the telephone answering system; and a controller controllingthe recording of messages by the telephone answering system andcontrolling the reproduction of the recorded messages to provide directcaller access to messages recorded by the voice message recording systemand access through an operator to messages recorded by the textuaImessage recording system under the control of a single control program.